Monday, October 26, 2009

That was one expensive DFL! Race report #5

I learn (or re-learn) something new at every race. At yesterday's BASP - Coyote Point I learned the following:1) The south bay Bay Trail loop JS and I used at warmup makes the East bay version look like a bad asian knock-off. It was so nice, that if we didn't have numbers pinned, we would have just kept on riding.2) Great team-mates are both a blessing and a curse. More on that later.3) 28h reflex rims are plenty strong for my 155lbs of bacon, but don't stand a chance against a 175 lbs BUTT side load. More on that later too.Things I re-learned.1) Have a pit bike ready to go....I mean REALLY ready to go.2) Never EVER look back at a crash involving a rider who just face planted on pavement 10 frantic pedal strokes into a race. I mean..WTF happened? 3 seconds into the race and the guy to my right STACK it hard and there's a rear wheel next to me face. I hope he's o.k. It looked baaaad.

Despite the comedy of errors that befell me yesterday, I was in a surprisingly upbeat mood driving home. Maybe is was the warm-up? Maybe the post-race thermos of coffee or maybe it was the fact that I didn't feel like total crap afterward. I've been sick for almost 3 weeks so it was nice to feel like that monkey was no longer flinging poo at me. I had a decent race, fitness wise, but started so far down in the hole, that I almost....almost packed it in. You see, not more that 5 seconds after that face plant, I got tangled up. At least two of us went down. The other rider got up unscathed. I got up to find his chainring had torn an inch gash in the side wall of my new TUFO, his significant behind had taco'd my rear wheel, and my bars were pointing west while everything else looked north. Now here comes the hard part. Since this was the start, I now stood a good 300 yards from my pit bike. Thrwarting our rapid union was a steep hill and woodchip. Needless to say, by the time I got it, Elvis had left the building. I flail-iantly chased on my SS in a 40x19 with file treads (see lessons re-learned #1). Anyone who raced the course yesterday just laughed at that. It was brutal hard to pedal and keystone-cop funny to steer. I figured it was pointless. I was heading for the truck. Coming into the start finish, I was looking for the exit, when much to my chagrin...er...suprise, my teamates were frantically yelling. "We've got your other bike! We've got your other bike!" They had found a rear, straightened my bars and had my geared vagen waiting for my. You PEOPLE are Awesome. Don't ever do that again! I soon found out that while I had a new rear, I couldn't shift into the small ring. The crash had messed the front shifter. The pit wheel would also only shift into the 23. Oh Joy. Rode the race in a 46x23. Gratned it was better than the 40x19...but only by this much (squeeze thumb and forefinger together). On the drive home I was adding up the damage. $85 tire, $100 to repair the rear, $150 for a new shifter all for a DFL...yet it didn't get me down. I guess feeling better CAN make you feel good. Now to get some fitness back.